DailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comDailyFinance.comhttp://o.aolcdn.com/os/df/2013/img/2-dailyfinance_logo_m.pngDailyFinance.comhttp://www.dailyfinance.comen-usCopyright 2015 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/How Much Interest Will You Pay in Your Life? You'll Be Appalledhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/how-much-interest-will-you-pay-in-your-life/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/how-much-interest-will-you-pay-in-your-life/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/how-much-interest-will-you-pay-in-your-life/#commentsFiled under: Mortgages, Credit, Personal Finance, Interest Rates, Credit ScoreGetty Images
Back in August, the USDA released its annual report on the cost of raising a child. This year's big, scary number? $245,000.

Well, now we have an even bigger, scarier number: $279,000.

That, according to a new tool produced by Credit.com, is how much you can expect to pay in interest on all the loans you take over the course of your life -- more than a quarter of a million dollars lost in the name of auto loans, credit cards and a mortgage.

That number is based on a host of assumptions. It assumes you'll take out a single 30-year mortgage on an average-priced home, with 20 percent down; that you'll own nine cars in your lifetime and take out auto loans for all of them; and that you'll carry a little over $2,000 in revolving credit card debt. With a fair credit score, the credit card balance will cost you over $13,000 in interest payments, the cars will cost you about $40,000, and the mortgage will run you in the neighborhood of $226,000 in interest.

Naturally, many of those assumptions may not apply to you.

No Car Yet, but a More Expensive House Is Likely

For instance, I live in New York, so I'm not buying a car anytime soon; my best guess is that I'll only wind up buying four new cars over my lifetime. I also studiously avoid carrying a balance on my credit cards, so at least for the moment I don't need to worry about those interest payments. Finally, my credit score is somewhere between good and excellent, so I'll be getting better rates on the loans I do take out.

On the other hand, if I buy a home in New York I'll likely be paying much more than the national average, and much more interest overall, especially if I'm not able to muster much in the way of a down payment.

Since everyone's financial situation is different, the site's "Lifetime Cost of Debt" tool allows you to adjust those assumptions to fit your own reality. If you fill in your credit score range and then adjust variables like the down payment on your home and your average credit card balance, the tool will spit out your own approximate lifetime interest cost. (For what it's worth, my own lifetime estimated cost of debt wound up being above the national average, underlining the outsized role a mortgage plays in the calculation.)

What About Student Loans?

The tool is slickly designed and fairly intuitive, though it does have one notable shortcoming: It doesn't account for student loans. With an average student loan debt load of more than $29,000, that's an extra $11,000 in interest payments to consider (assuming a 10-year repayment and a 6.8 percent interest rate).

Even with that omission, the tool does a great job of putting into perspective something that few Americans have perspective on.

It also provides some good perspective on the importance of your credit score. A slider lets you see how the lifetime cost of debt changes as you bounce between credit score ranges, and the difference is striking. At a fair credit score, a New Jersey resident will pay about $384,000 for her mortgage, credit card debt and auto loans. But adjust it upwards to "excellent," and the cost drops to $302,000. It's even more striking in the other direction: Move it down to "poor," and the lifetime cost of debt shoots up $486,000. Just going to from fair to poor costs you a cool hundred grand.

If anything, then, using the tool really drives home the importance of understanding how credit scores work. There are a lot of misconceptions about credit scoring out there, from the persistent myth that you need to carry a balance to establish credit to the notion that it takes a financial disaster like bankruptcy to hurt your score. These misunderstandings can cost you thousands.

Credit scoring is complicated, and it's not hard to miss a single payment or get tripped up by some obscure rule. Maybe if more people knew just how much money was on the line, they'd be a little more conscientious about it.

Wait, come back! OK, we admit it, you're right: Christmas is literally three months away. And it's downright ridiculous that Christmas Creep has gotten so, well, creepy that a full quarter of the year is now given over to the holiday shopping season.

But don't blame us. Blame the retailers, whose never-ending arms race has pushed the start of the season earlier and earlier every year. Case in point: Over the last couple of weeks, Walmart (WMT), Toys R Us and Kmart (SHLD) have all released their lists of what they predict will be the most popular toys this winter. This despite the fact that -- and we really can't emphasize this enough -- Christmas morning is three months away. They don't even have the excuse of an early Hanukkah this year.

Still, if you've got kids, you might as well know in advance which toys they'll be begging for. So we've pored through the retailers' lists, checked them twice, and picked out the seven toys that everyone agrees will be popular this year.

Now, it's up to you whether you want to until December to buy them, or get it over with now and avoid a "Jingle All the Way"-style debacle on Christmas Eve.

]]>Christmas creepChristmas Evechristmas shoppingchristmas toys 2014giftsholiday shoppingholiday toysHot ToysKmartToys R UsWalmartMatt BrownellFri, 26 Sep 2014 12:39:00 ESTLabor Day Sales That You Should Check Out This Weekendhttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/best-labor-day-sales-2014/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/best-labor-day-sales-2014/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/best-labor-day-sales-2014/#commentsFiled under: Shopping, Deals, SavingGordon Chibroski/Portland Press Herald/Getty ImagesL.L. Bean offers a rare 10 percent discount.
"Got any big plans for Labor Day weekend?" your coworker asks you in the elevator. There are plenty of good responses. Maybe you'll hit the beach one last time before fall arrives. Maybe you'll have a barbecue. Maybe you'll spend all weekend wearing white, while you still can.

But deal-hunters know there's only one good answer: Hitting the Labor Day sales, baby.

Plenty of retailers are holding Labor Day sales this weekend; some offer genuine steals, while some are just run-of-the mill clearance sales. We've gone through the bunch to identify the sales that are really worth checking out.

Always on Sale?

Banana Republic (GPS) holds sales so frequently that it's not worth shopping there if it's not. Still, we suppose it's worth mentioning that the brand is taking 40 percent off this weekend. The discount is good in-stores and online through Sept. 1, and if you're buying online you'll need the code BRLABOR.

Another sale-happy retailer, Express (EXPR), is offering the same 40 percent off everything in its stores except watches and gift cards. The sale is good in-stores or online through Sept. 1; you can also get free shipping for purchases over $50, but that offer is only good through midnight ET Friday night.

LL Bean offers sales a lot less often, so the 10 percent discount it's offering this weekend is worth noting. You'll need to use the code LABORDAY if you're buying online, or print out the coupon from its site if you're shopping in stores. The offer is good through Sept. 1, and some exclusions apply.

20 Percent Off Online at Macy's

Macy's (M) is taking 20 percent off online purchases on Aug. 30. There are plenty of caveats - the site lists dozens of brands excluded -- and select departments offer a more modest 15 percent off. Clearance items get an extra 25 percent off. You'll need the coupon code SUPER at checkout.

JC Penney (JCP) offers 15 percent off apparel, shoes, accessories, fine jewelry and home items; lower discounts apply for other departments. You can bump that discount up to 20 percent if you're using a JCP store credit card. Print this coupon if you're shopping in stores, or use the code BUYNOW.

Walmart (WMT) is offering a bunch of online specials for Labor Day, covering everything from clothing to electronics. You can get an iPad Mini for $280 (a $20 discount), a polo shirt for $3.97, a Hamilton Beach slow-cooker for $19.88 (originally $34.88) and discounts on various TVs.

Most tales of ruined credit ratings are ones of excess and irresponsible spending -- spending up to your limit, making only the minimum payment, opening new accounts to handle all the excess spending, and so on. Before you know it, you're buried in debt, and your score is in the toilet.

But I hadn't done any of that. I'd always considered myself the model of responsible credit usage, paying my bills on time and using less than 10 percent of my available credit. So I was shocked when I logged into CreditKarma (which offers free credit scores and reports from TransUnion) and found that my score had fallen.

Unused Accounts Had Been Closed

It didn't take long to find the culprit. Two store credit cards had been closed in the last few months. It had been years since I'd used either, and the issuing banks apparently realized I wasn't planning on using the cards again anytime soon.

"[Card issuers] have models that predict who has any sort of chance of coming back," explains CreditKarma CEO Ken Lin. "You usually have at least a year, and if you're inactive one to three years, you run the risk of being deactivated."

For the issuing bank, it's a simple cost/benefit analysis. If you never use your card, there's no chance of the bank getting its primary revenue streams of swipe fees and interest on balances. And there are liabilities involved in keeping your account open: In addition to the cost of sending you new cards and statements, there's also the risk that your card will be lost or stolen, leaving the bank liable for fraudulent charges

"Credit card issuers are more focused and cognizant of the risk and revenue generated by their borrowers," explains John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for CreditSesame.com. "The days of forgetting about you and hoping you use your card sometime down the road are gone. ... If your card collects dust for more than 12 months, you're almost forcing a card issuer to do something."

Utilization Is a Key Factor

Unfortunately for me, closing those two accounts had a serious negative effect on my credit score. As we've noted in the past, closing a credit card account is almost never a good idea. Much of your credit score is determined by your utilization -- the percentage of your total available credit you actually use in a given month. Close an account, and you suddenly have less credit available; unless you adjust your spending downward, your utilization goes up, and the bank considers you more of a credit risk.

It also didn't help that one of the accounts had been opened in 2009, making it one of the older credit accounts in my relatively young credit history. And since the age of your credit history and the average age of your credit accounts are key factors in determining your score, closing it was a double whammy.

Build a Strong Credit History

"People love to obsess about [credit] inquiries, but history is worth 50 percent more," notes Ulzheimer.

Given that, it's important to start establishing credit early. Lin recommends getting your first credit card as young as possible, and going with one you can see yourself using regularly for years to come -- ideally a general usage card with low or no annual fees. And even if you wind up adding better credit cards to your wallet, make sure you don't let the old standbys go unused for too long.

"If your card collects dust for more than 12 months, you're almost forcing a card issuer to do something," says Ulzheimer. "Buy a pair of socks."

Matt Brownell covers retail and personal finance for DailyFinance. You can follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

According to Visa, the average American spends more than $900 a year going out to lunch. And that means that if you can manage to start packing your own lunch when you go to work, you can save a ton of money that you would have otherwise spent at Au Bon Pain, Subway or wherever else you go for your noontime meal

Most people know this, just as they know they're spending too much on lattes or parking tickets or whatever else happens to be busting their budget. But if you're like me, there's one thing keeping you from packing your own lunch: The sandwiches and soups you make at home just don't compare to the ones you get at your local deli. You know that a homemade sandwich costs a lot less than a store-bought one, but you're tasting the difference.

So to help you break out of your turkey-and-cheese rut, we turned to food blogger Cara Eisenpress of Big Girls, Small Kitchen. Cara showed us how to use relatively cheap ingredients to create simple and cheap sandwiches that nevertheless taste just as good -- or better -- than anything you'd get from your local sub shop.

]]>eating outfoodhousehold budgetlunchsaving moneysaving money on groceriesMatt BrownellTue, 03 Dec 2013 05:00:00 ESTAll the Black Friday Ads Are Out: Here's Where the Best Deals Arehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/black-friday-ads-best-doorbusters-deals-prices/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/black-friday-ads-best-doorbusters-deals-prices/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/black-friday-ads-best-doorbusters-deals-prices/#commentsFiled under: Black Friday, Holiday Shopping, Consumer Electronics, ToysAP
In the past week, the floodgates have opened and all the major retailers have released their ads for Black Friday. It's unusual for those ads to be made public this early in the season, but it affords us the opportunity to fully review the fliers and see which stores are holding the best sales.

Now, we've gone on record as listing various reasons why you may want to avoid the mall on Black Friday, and we stand by that. But there's no denying that the doorbusters are attractive, and you can save hundreds on a TV or tablet if you're willing to line up on Thanksgiving.

And if you are going to line up, you want to be sure that it's at a store with truly spectacular deals. Now, we can pronounce judgment on which stores are truly worth visiting.

The Cream of the Crop

BradsDeals.com has been gathering and analyzing the ads as they've come out, and site founder Brad Wilson says there's really no contest when it comes to crowning a champ: It's Walmart (WMT).

"Walmart is just incredibly competitive," he says. "From a bricks and mortar standpoint, I think it's fair to say that Walmart is the best."

Looking at Walmart's ad, it's clear why it's a front-runner. The doorbusters include the last-generation iPad Mini for $299, with a $100 Walmart gift card thrown in; a 32-inch TV (albeit of an unspecified brand) for just $98; and a 60-inch Vizio TV (considered a premium brand) for a mere $688.

But what really makes Walmart a go-to destination on Thanksgiving night is that there's guaranteed availability of those doorbusters if you get there between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.; if the store sells out of the item you want, you'll get a voucher that lets you buy it at that price online. That means you don't need to camp out all day to be first in line -- just be there when the doors open and you'll get whatever you had your eye on.

"They're really almost trying to do a hostile takeover of Black Friday," muses Wilson.

All the Rest

Walmart isn't alone in offering great deals, though. Michael Brim of BFAds.net, which likewise posts and analyzes Black Friday ads, says that Best Buy (BBY) and Target (TGT) join Walmart as the "Big Three" for Black Friday deals. For Best Buy, he points to a fantastic deal on a premium TV brand: A 55-inch LED TV from LG for just $500. If that's not big enough for you, it's also selling a 65-inch Samsung TV for $1,000. For this reason, he says that shoppers searching for a big TV for a trusted brand might want to start at Best Buy.

But Best Buy isn't stopping there -- like Walmart, it's also offering a big iPad deal.

"One thing we're seeing across the board is Apple (AAPL) products being highly discounted, and that's something never seen before," says Brim. "The iPad 2 still retails for $400, but Best Buy is selling it for $300." While the iPad 2 is now a couple of generations old, it's still a perfectly good tablet, as evidenced by the fact that Apple still sells it alongside the brand new iPad Air at the Apple Store.

Speaking of the iPad Air, Target may be your best bet for that. It will sell the 16 GB version for $479 -- $20 less than the retail price -- and will also throw in a $100 Target gift card. If you want a big TV but can't afford a premium brand, you can get a 50-inch Element TV for $229. There are also good deals on cookware and bedding, plus the Samsung Galaxy S4 phone for just $40 with two-year activation.

Beyond the "Big Three," other retailers have a few attractive doorbusters that might be of interest. Kohl's (KSS) and J.C. Penney (JCP) are both offering big deals on slow cookers, with the former offering a four-quart Crock-Pot for $8 and the latter offering a four-quart Hamilton Beach model for $10. Kmart (SHLD), meanwhile, has a washer/dryer set for $500, a great deal that's clearly targeted at the self-gifting crowd.

"Black Friday is probably not the best time to buy a toy," says Brim. "Two weeks [before] Christmas, stores will look at their supply and say 'We've got too many of what's supposed to be the hot Christmas toy.'"

Brim does make an exception to that rule: If one of the truly hot toys is available at a big discount on Black Friday and you know your child wants it, consider pulling the trigger. And that is indeed the case this year at a couple of retailers. Toys R Us has the Furby Boom -- widely considered one of the season's hottest toys -- for just $30, about half what you'd normally pay. It's also got the LeapFrog LeapPad 2 Explorer for $40, also about half the going price on most sites.

But once again, Walmart won't be topped: It's got the Furby Boom for $29, undercutting Toys R Us by a buck (and probably giving Toys R Us executives fits). And unlike Toys R Us, it offers that one-hour in-stock guarantee, so customers showing up when the doors open will be guaranteed to get one of the season's hottest toys at half-price.

Of course, there's one competitor that's not so easily crushed, and that's Amazon (AMZN). The online retailer is always competitive on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but it doesn't release a Black Friday ad like its bricks-and-mortar competitors. As such, it's hard to know what to expect.

"There's not too much advanced insight on what they're doing, and a lot of their stuff is seemingly reactionary -- a sale will just pop up," says Brim. Further complicating things are that the offers disappear almost as quickly as they appear, with many of their "Lightning Deals" selling out within seconds. Still, Brim says he wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon match some of the best doorbuster deals on TVs and other electronics, so fast-clicking online shoppers might do just as well as the folks camped out at the mall.

For a guaranteed crack at some great deals, your best bet is Walmart. But if the thought of storming the local Walmart with thousands of other shoppers makes you break out into a cold sweat, you could do a lot worse than curling up on the couch with a laptop and seeing what Amazon has to offer.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

As it turns out, there is no big secret. You just have to start saving earlier, throw a whole bunch of money at your retirement accounts, and stay in equities for a long time.

Fidelity VP Jeanne Thompson looked at the behavior of more than 5,500 Americans over the course of 12 years. She limited the study to those with an annual salary under $150,000, as she wanted to focus on people who had been able to buff up their retirement accounts without being filthy rich to begin with.

The biggest factor was how much they contributed to savings: The 401(k) millionaires were deferring an average of 14 percent of their total paycheck. That was complimented by an average employer contribution of 4.8 percent, for a total of close to 20 percent savings rate.

They started early, too. On average, the millionaire savers already had upwards of $400,000 in their accounts by their late 40s, which ballooned to $1.2 million by their late-50s.

"We recommend individuals start at age 25," says Thompson. "Really, as soon as you're eligible to start saving, that's when we recommend."

But saving to the degree that Fidelity recommends will likely be difficult for your typical 25-year-old. Most 20-something won't be able to spare 14 percent of their paychecks, nor are they likely to see such a generous employer match. Still, young savers are advised to save at least as much as is necessary to take full advantage of their company's matching policy.

Finally, about that $1 million figure: It's a nice, round number, but is it an arbitrary amount to set as your retirement goal?

Thompson says that a good goal is to retire with eight to 10 times your final salary; given that the average worker in this survey retired making close to $120,000, a million is indeed a good goal to maintain their usual standard of living. Yours might be lower, of course; if after years of work you end with a salary of $80,000, then you might be fine if your retirement savings total somewhere in the vicinity of $750,000.

That's why the important figure is not the $1 million, but the rate at which you save. Putting 14 percent of your savings in your 401(k) might seem extremely ambitious, but come retirement you'll be a millionaire -- or at least, you'll feel like one.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

According to the National Retail Federation, the average American will spend nearly $740 on gifts, decorations and greeting cards this holiday season.

But S.S. Gee Burro, a Pennsylvania-based author, is not an average American -- at least, not when it comes to his family's gifting practices.

"Each member in my family has a stocking, and each family member puts in a gift that costs no more than $2," he says, noting that the threshold had been raised from $1 due to inflation. "We all know who left buying until the last minute -- they are the ones who bring lottery tickets." With 20 family members present for Christmas, that keeps per-person Christmas spending below $40, and he says the only gifts given beyond the stockings tend to be of the hand-made variety.

That concept will feel alien to most Americans, who follow a fairly predictable holiday gifting pattern: You make a list of what to get for friends and family, you start your serious shopping shortly after you're done with Thanksgiving dinner, and then you spend hundreds of dollars on gifts over the course of the month-long shopping season.

But for many families, the gifting regimen isn't quite so simple. Due in part to lingering economic uncertainties, some are pulling back from their usual spending habits -- and a fraction are skipping holiday commercialism altogether.

More for Me, Less for Thee

One trend that's grown in the last few years is so-called self-gifting, which is exactly what it sounds like: Treating yourself to some 'gifts' around the holidays. Pam Goodfellow, consumer insights director for Prosper Insights and Analytics, says that self-gifters will spend about $130 on themselves this year, and observes that the trend really stepped up in the wake of the recession.

"We've become smarter shoppers overall, and shoppers are delaying purchases they would have made earlier in the year," she says.

In other words, these aren't exactly "self-gifts" -- they're just things that consumers were already planning on buying, but put off buying until they could get a great deal during the holiday sales. Retailers clearly recognize this trend, packing their Black Friday sales with appliances and electronics that people are likely to buy for themselves.

With that in mind, it might seem that self-gifting is merely taking the place of year-round discretionary spending, rather than replacing a gift you might have otherwise bought for a friend or family-member. But NPD analyst Marshal Cohen says that if you're buying a TV for yourself on Black Friday, it's inevitable that you're going to scale down your gifting a bit.

"It does take the place of some of the gifting that would normally be done," says Cohen. "But it's the second level of relatives that get hurt -- if you're an uncle, you're not necessarily getting a gift from your niece or nephew."

And even if your uncle still gets a gift, he might not get what he wants. Cohen says that consumers these days are more likely to let sales and coupons dictate what gifts they buy for others.

"I have a finite amount of funds, and now I have to make the rest of my list go just as far but on less money," says Cohen. "If I find a cashmere sweater for $69, then that's what you're getting this year."

Getting Creative

Such strategies represent a frugal-minded adjustment of typical gifting practices. But a minority of Americans are going a step further by skipping the biggest excesses of the holiday shopping season altogether.

Burro's $2 gift exchange is an extreme example. But others take a similarly measured approach to gifting that keeps the total expenditure down. Carly Fauth of Money Crashers says that while the kids in her family still get gifts, the adults skip the iPads and cashmere sweaters in favor of a white elephant exchange with a $20 cap.

"We decide the theme at Thanksgiving (this year it's 'star') and then everyone has to buy one $20 gift that fits the theme and bring it to Christmas Eve," she says. "This actually cuts down on a lot of the stress of shopping for the holidays."

Another creative approach is to more or less skip physical gifts altogether. "Instead of giving each other gifts, my husband and I surprise the family with trips," says Michelle Gannon, who runs a language-learning company. "[They're] just quick weekend adventures, but we put a little 'brochure' in each other's stockings."

With more than half of all Americans expected to hit the malls on Black Friday alone, it's clear that these creative non-gifters are very much in the minority. But economic uncertainties and a renewed interested in do-it-yourself projects could conspire to make more people reconsider the traditional gifting spree.

"I think everybody is still second-guessing what they're spending and who they're buying for, and even what they could possibly make instead of go out to the store and buy," says Goodfellow. "Pinterest has really driven this DIY trend, and making something more personal is more accepted than it was before."

More on Holiday Spending:
Do you think there's a correlation between people's beliefs and their spending decisions? AOL and Chase Blueprint recently partnered on a survey to study this. The results are on the infographic below. Check it out and see where you fall. To see a bigger version of this, click the infographic on this link.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

]]>alternative giftingBlack Fridaychristmas shoppingdiygiftsholiday giftsholiday shoppinghome-made giftsNational Retail Federationpinterestshopping trendsMatt BrownellThu, 14 Nov 2013 05:00:00 ESTThese Are the Best Credit Cards for Your Holiday Shoppinghttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/best-credit-cards-holiday-shopping/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/best-credit-cards-holiday-shopping/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/best-credit-cards-holiday-shopping/#commentsFiled under: Holiday Shopping, Credit Cards, ShoppingAlamy
The holiday shopping season is upon us, and that means you're probably about to spend a whole lot of money: According to the National Retail Federation, the average American will spend about $738 on gifts, decorations and other holiday purchases. And, actually, that's down 2 percent from last year, so perhaps we're all trying to be a hair more frugal.

But another way to save on those holiday outlays can be to pick the right card when you get to the checkout counter. So which one should you use?

If you're planning on carrying a balance into 2014, the answer is obvious: Whichever card has the lowest rate. But if you're planning on paying off your purchases in full and APRs aren't a concern, then you'll need to consider what ancillary benefits you can get by choosing one card over another.

The Rewards Carousel

The biggest consideration here is what sort of cash-back rewards you can get out of your card. Usually, you get only 1 percent back, which is a drop in the shopping bucket. But many cards have 5 percent bonus categories that rotate on a quarterly basis. And the good news is that credit-card issuers tend to pick bonus categories for the fourth quarter that line up nicely with where you're likely to spend money for the holidays.

Take the Chase (JPM) Freedom card, for instance: This quarter, you can get 5 percent cash-back at Amazon.com (AMZN) and department stores including J.C. Penney (JCP), Sears (SHLD) and Nordstrom. The bad news is that some of the retailers with the lowest prices, including Target (TGT), Walmart (WMT) and warehouse-club stores, are excluded from the deal. Still, if you drop $300 between Macy's and Amazon this holiday season, you're getting back $15 just by using your Freedom card.

If you intend to do most of your shopping online, your best bet might be the Discover (DFS) It card, which provides 5 percent cash-back on all online purchases through the end of the year.

"As people do more holiday spending online, this is a great benefit," says Ben Woolsey of CreditCards.com. "It's only for the first $1,500 of spending, but most people are spending less than that."

Finally, there's the American Express (AXP) Blue Cash Preferred card. It, too, offers bonus cash-back at department stores -- but it's only 3 percent, not the 5 percent you get from the Chase Freedom. And unlike Chase Freedom, it has a $75 annual fee.

But the department store cash-back is year-round, so you can still take advantage of it in January if you didn't like any of the clothes you got for Christmas. Plus, that cash-back category isn't capped at $1,500 like most rotating-category cards, so it's a good option for big spenders.

Purchase Protection (and Other Big Benefits)

​Plus, that $75 fee also pays for some other benefits that could make it a great option for holiday shopping. American Express cards offer a variety of insurance options on your big gift purchases.

"AmEx cards have an extended warranty, which covers up to a year's additional warranty [on your purchase]," says Erik Larson of NextAdvisor, which reviews credit cards and other service. Larson notes that American Express cards also have return protection, meaning that if the store won't take your purchase back, you have up to 90 days to "return" it to American Express and get up to $300 refunded. And there's also purchase protection, which will cover up to $1,000 in damage or theft to your product within 90 days of purchase. So if you're buying a pricier gift like a laptop or TV, you may want to use an American Express card in case anything goes awry.

American Express isn't alone in offering such added insurance: MasterCard (MA) credit cards and Visa (V) Signature cards offer similar benefits. And if you buy something with your Citi (C) card and then find it at least $25 cheaper within the next 60 days, the Citi Price Rewind program will refund you the difference.

Bonus Rewards Portals

If 5 percent cash-back isn't good enough for you, some issuers will give you an extra perk if you do your online shopping via their websites.

Take Discover's ShopDiscover program. When you shop through the site, you'll get a cash-back bonus of 5 to 20 percent, and select retailers are increasing their bonuses for the holiday season; Nordstrom and Sears, for instance, are each offering an extra 10 percent bonus, and that's on top of the 5 percent cash-back you're getting for shopping online with the Discover It card. That means that a $500 purchase at Nordstrom made through the ShopDiscover platform will net you $75 in cash-back. That's huge.

Discover isn't alone in offering this sort of program -- Chase lets you earn extra rewards when you shop through its Ultimate Rewards portal, netting you a total of 15 percent cash-back at Kohl's, for instance. Before you buy anything online, check to see if your own credit card issuer has any sort of bonus rewards portal that could allow you to drastically increase your cash-back.

"If your card has one of these online malls, it might be a good idea to check, because they do have a lot of popular stores," says Larson.

A final word of advice: If these sorts of perks sound good to you, and you think you've got a good enough credit score to qualify, you may want to put in an application now. Black Friday is three weeks away, and it could very well take that long for you to get approved and find your card in the mail. You don't want to miss out on the sweet rewards because you took too long to get the right credit card in your wallet.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

The last thing you want on your visit home is to find yourself being interrogated at the dinner table about, say, why you're still living with roommates at 30. Or how much money you're making. Or why you're jobless or underemployed, despite that expensive college education.

If your parents or members of your extended family are the type to ask such awkward questions, you'll need to be prepared to deftly answer them without giving away too much -- and without turning Thanksgiving dinner into a Lincoln-Douglas debate about your 401(k). Here are a few tips:

Go in with a plan. You probably have some idea of which aspects of your life are going to inspire questions, so you want to be prepared.

"If I know that I just graduated from college in May and I'm not yet employed, the obvious question is, 'When are you getting a job?'" says Jodi R.R. Smith, founder of the etiquette consultancy Mannersmith. "So I might pre-empt it -- I can say, 'I'm doing great, I'm working on some temporary assignments that might turn into work.'"

By getting on top of the question before it's asked, you'll be able to present your situation on your own terms.

Don't overshare. "It's really about being tactful and knowing your audience," says Erin Lowry, 24, who blogs about personal finance at Broke Millenial. "There are certain parts of living the NYC lifestyle that I don't tell my grandma, like that I could barely afford to feed myself when I moved here. Gloss over details, or omit them."

Deflect with humor. Smith says there's one sure way to shut down an awkward line of questioning from a nosy uncle or a grandparent who no longer feels the need to be tactful: Make a joke.

"If they say, 'It's about time you got a job' or 'how much are you making?' you can tell them, 'I'm very happy based on what's going on the economy, and I can support myself -- but if you want, you can leave me money in the will,'" she suggests.

Starting the Conversation

The flip side to these tips is that sometimes, you'll be the one starting the awkward money conversation.

"We see an uptick in questions about long-term care around the holidays," says Jody Gastfriend, vice president of senior care services at Care.com. That spike is largely due to people going home to see their elderly parents, and spotting worrisome changes in how they're taking care of themselves. "There may be some changes in their ability to tend to the house, or maybe the medications are expired -- there's a whole range of things people notice," she explains.

Before you launch into a conversation about assisted living facilities at the dinner table, though, Gastfriend has a few suggestions.

Talk to your siblings. You'll want to get all the offspring involved in coming up with a plan, especially since you'll all probably wind up footing at least part of the bill -- one way or another.

"There's often sibling discord about money and perception of need," she says. "Getting together so conflicts don't arise when approaching the parents is important."

Take it slow. Gastfriend says you shouldn't just go to your parents and present a plan -- you don't want to make it seem that you're coercing them. And you might start by suggesting small changes to their living situation, rather than, for example, immediately proposing they move to an assisted living facility.

"Incremental changes can lead the way to receptivity down the road," she says. "Maybe start by just bringing someone coming in once or twice a week to help with groceries." As they get used to being taken care of, the decision to relocate to an elder-care community will seem like less of a leap.

Don't bring it up at the holidays. Thanksgiving or Christmas might be a good time to have a preliminary discussion about long-term care with your siblings. But unless Thanksgiving or Christmas is the only time when the family can be in one place, you should avoid having the big talk during the holidays.

"We often tell families, don't do it at the holiday itself," she says. "Sometimes, it's too loaded a topic."

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

]]>awkwardCare.comChristmasfamilyfamily moneyholidaysjob searchLocallong term careThanksgivingThanksgiving dinnerTwitterMatt BrownellWed, 06 Nov 2013 12:27:00 ESTKmart to Open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving, Stay Open for 41 Hourshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/kmart-thanksgiving-day-6am-opening-black-friday/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/kmart-thanksgiving-day-6am-opening-black-friday/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/kmart-thanksgiving-day-6am-opening-black-friday/#commentsFiled under: Retail, Holiday ShoppingAP
Kmart (SHLD) announced Monday that it will once again kick off its "Black Friday" at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, and keep its stores open for 41 straight hours.

Opening on Thanksgiving has become this norm among many retailers this year, but most are choosing to do so late in the evening, usually around 8 p.m. As we've pointed out, this makes some sense for shoppers, who can wait until after Thanksgiving dinner to hit the mall (and then be back home to get to sleep at a reasonable hour).

But Kmart has never bought into the notion that Thanksgiving should be dedicated to food and family. This won't be the first time it's opened its doors to shoppers on the morning of Thanksgiving, but this year it will go a step further by keeping them open until late Friday night. That's a 41-hour marathon of shopping that it clearly hopes will give it a bigger slice of the Black Friday sales pie.

(Kmart isn't alone in this, to be fair -- Walmart (WMT) keeps many of its 24-hour stores open throughout Thanksgiving and Black Friday, avoiding the "doorbuster" crushes by putting some sale items aside until the designated hour.)

We can see where a few shoppers might happily take advantage of the early-morning opening -- you could head to the mall after sticking your turkey in the oven, for instance, or stop at a Kmart on the way to your cousins' place. But we're guessing that most people will respond negatively to the notion of a national holiday being entirely turned over to commerce.

And that's to say nothing of the Kmart employees who will staff the stores during hours when most people would prefer to be at home with their families eating turkey. Kmart emphasized in its announcement that "Stores are staffed with seasonal associates and those who have volunteered to work." But as a general rule, non-unionized retail employees don't really have a choice in the matter about working a holiday shift if there aren't enough volunteers.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

]]>black friday 2013Christmas creepdoorbustersGrey Thursdayholiday shoppingkmartKmart Black FridaythanksgivingMatt BrownellMon, 04 Nov 2013 15:04:00 ESTHow I Saved an Extra $20 on a Purchase I'd Already Made ... Just By Askinghttp://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/11/02/how-I-saved-extra-money-purchase-just-ask/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/11/02/how-I-saved-extra-money-purchase-just-ask/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/11/02/how-I-saved-extra-money-purchase-just-ask/#commentsFiled under: Consumer Ally, Shopping, Secret ShopperAOL
The other day, I bought a parka from the online retailer Sierra Trading Post. The site showed a list price of $179, but had it marked down to $95. As an added bonus, there was a 20 percent off coupon code that knocked the price down to $76. With $10 for shipping, my total came to $86. I felt like I'd gotten a pretty good deal.

Until the next day, that is. I went back to the site to take another look at my soon-to-arrive coat, and found to my dismay that the price had been lowered to $80. Even worse, a new code now appeared on the site offering 30 percent off. If I'd just waited one more day, I would have saved an extra $20.

So I brought up the site's customer service chat feature, and immediately got to talking with a nice woman named Bridget. I explained my situation, and asked if I could have the new, lower price.

After quickly checking on my order, she came back with good news: "This will take just one moment to adjust this price." My new total: $80, minus 30 percent, plus $10 for shipping, equaling $66. I'd saved $20 in less than five minutes, and I hadn't even needed to pick up the phone.

As deal-hunters like to say, your mileage may vary. In my case, I was helped by the fact that my order hadn't shipped yet; Bridget may have figured that if she didn't offer me a price adjustment, I would just cancel my order before it shipped, and then re-order it at the new price.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and she would have processed the price adjustment even if it had already shipped. It's hard to say, because as far as I can tell, Sierra Trading Post doesn't seem to have a formal, public policy about post-purchase price adjustments. Most retailers don't publicly state their policy on such matters. You just need to ask, and cross your fingers.

And that's a good lesson for any transaction: You never know how much money you can save unless you ask. Amazon is known for giving post-purchase price adjustments to customers who don't even ask, but it's the exception, not the rule: If you want to get something extra, you need to be willing to ask for it.

And this doesn't just apply to price adjustments. If you can't find a free shipping code, for instance, you can use that online chat tool to ask if they'd be willing to throw in free shipping to close the deal. And when you're in a store, you might be able to get an extra, unpublished discount if you're willing to haggle your way up the managerial food chain.

If they can offer 20 percent-off, maybe they'll be willing to offer 30 percent-off. If they're willing to ship a $75 order for free, maybe they'd be willing to do the same for a $50 order. And if they were willing to offer a discount on Tuesday, maybe they'll still be willing to offer it on Wednesday.

You never know if you don't ask.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

]]>customer servicedeals and bargainsdiscountsfree shippingHagglingonline shoppingSierra Trading PostMatt BrownellSat, 02 Nov 2013 06:00:00 ESTFCC Chief Proposes Ending NFL Game Broadcast Blackoutshttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/fcc-proposes-ending-nfl-game-broadcast-blackouts/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/fcc-proposes-ending-nfl-game-broadcast-blackouts/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/fcc-proposes-ending-nfl-game-broadcast-blackouts/#commentsFiled under: U.S. Government, Sports, Consumer Issues, Music & EntertainmentGetty Images
The outgoing boss of the FCC has proposed putting an end to the televised football game blackouts that have bedeviled NFL fans for decades.

On Friday, Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said that she was proposing to eliminate the Commission's blackout rules, which prohibit cable or satellite providers from carrying home games that have been blacked out on local broadcasts. The rule primarily impacts the NFL, which blacks out games on local broadcast television if the stadium has not sold out. The policy was put in place to encourage attendance, but has led to widespread complaints from small-market and under-performing teams unable to fill their stadiums.

"Changes in the marketplace have raised questions about whether these rules are still in the public interest, particularly at a time when high ticket prices and the economy make it difficult for many sports fans to attend games," Clyburn said in a statement. She went on to note that repealing the rules would not prevent broadcasters and sports leagues from privately negotiating to black out certain sporting events.

That means that the practical impact for sports fans is unclear.

"As Clyburn pointed out in her statement, the NFL can still require blackouts as part of their contracts with programmers, and probably will," writes Broadcasting & Cable, which tracks TV industry news. "Essentially, it gets the FCC out of the picture."

The 40-year-old rules have come under sporadic attack by members of Congress and by interest groups like the Sports Fan Coalition, which has lobbied the FCC to put an end to the rules. In response to criticism, the NFL tweaked its rules last year to allow teams to set their attendance threshold as low as 85 percent of capacity to avoid a blackout. Despite this, fans in small markets like Tampa Bay and Buffalo saw some of their games blacked out on local TV.

"If the record in this proceeding shows that the rules are no longer justified, the Commission's involvement in this area should end," concludes Clyburn.

The long lines, teeming crowds, packed parking lots and occasional eruptions of violence are enough to convince many people that shopping on Black Friday is a fool's errand. They know there are some good discounts to be found, but they just can't stomach all that chaos.

Still, tens of millions of Americans will throw caution to the wind and descend on the mall on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, seeking those huge doorbusters and deep discounts.

We understand the impulse to want to save money at all costs. But is Black Friday really the deal bonanza that it's cracked up to me? Are the prices good enough to justify standing in line and braving the crowds?

We're not so sure they are. Here are a few reasons why hitting the mall on Black Friday is one family tradition you may want to abandon.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

As we reported last week, Amazon (AMZN) abruptly raised its cutoff for getting free "Super Saver" shipping from $25 to $35. That makes it a little tougher for customers to get their wares shipped for free, and we speculated that it could be Amazon's way of pushing users to sign up for Prime, which provides unlimited free shipping for an annual fee.

A lot of customers aren't pleased with the move, and now one customer has kicked off a petition to ask Amazon to reverse course and bring the cutoff back down to $25. Brian Halcomb-Allyn of Tennessee started a petition on Change.org with the self-explanatory title "Amazon: Reverse Decision to Raise Free Shipping Minimum." As of this writing, it has close to 10,000 signatures.

"The economy is bad enough right now," he writes. "Amazon shouldn't be making their customers spend more money just to get free shipping, just as people start struggling in the holiday season."

The organizer posted what he says is a response from an Amazon customer service representative, which apologized for the inconvenience and politely declined to sign the petition. And even if it somehow gets to the desk of Jeff Bezos, we imagine he'll have the same response.

We definitely understand why people are frustrated by the policy change, but raising the minimum does make a lot of sense for Amazon. Besides the aforementioned impact on Prime memberships, there's also the simple fact that the minimum hasn't been raised in a decade, during which time there's been inflation: According to one inflation calculator, a basket of goods that cost $25 in 2002 cost $31.64 as of 2012, so raising it to $35 after a decade isn't too far off-base.

Amazon does have a reputation for going above-and-beyond for its customers, so if this petition really takes off, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that it could reverse course. But history tells us otherwise: A recent petition urging Victoria's Secret to make bras for breast cancer survivors got more than 130,000 signatures, and earned a hearing for its originators at company headquarters (LTD), but ultimately failed to accomplish its goal. Like Victoria's Secret, we expect that Amazon will stick with the decision that it feels is best for its business.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

That's the finding of a new study by ZenDesk, a provider of customer service software. The company looked at the median response time for customer service inquiries based on the time of day that the request was initiated. The data is quite clear: The earlier in the day you initiate the call, the faster your issue will be addressed. Your best bet is to put in your request anywhere between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.; after that, the average response time declines over the course of the day.
Zendesk
As the graph shows, requests put in during the morning see a 5-hour median response time; wait until the end of the afternoon, and you're looking at a response time closer to 17 hours.

"You want to get your inqiries in by lunch, because things get quite a bit worse later in the workday," says Sam Boonin, VP of products for Zendesk.

One possible reason is that the people working in the customer service department simply get tired and slow down in the afternoon; another is that they've got more of a backlog as the day wears on. There's also the fact that inquiries made toward the end of the day may not get answered until the next day.

"Large companies like Amazon are able to staff their customer service 24/7, but most companies are not," points out Boonin.

The fact that median response time is listed in hours, rather than minutes, is attributed to the fact that the survey encompasses all customer service channels, including the relatively sluggish email. You'll get a much faster response by phone, which Boonin says is still the fastest way to go.

Of course, fast doesn't always equal effective. As we've noted in the past, your best bet may be to contact a company through social media, where the public nature of disputes tends to encourage a rapid resolution in the customer's favor.

But if you just want to get a fast response, pick up the phone -- and do it before lunch.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

]]>best time to call customer serviceConsumer Allycustomer servicecustomer service tipssocial mediazendeskMatt BrownellThu, 31 Oct 2013 12:50:00 ESTConsumer Confidence Tanked During Debt Ceiling Debaclehttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/consumer-confidence-tanked-during-debt-ceiling-debacle/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/consumer-confidence-tanked-during-debt-ceiling-debacle/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/consumer-confidence-tanked-during-debt-ceiling-debacle/#commentsFiled under: Retail, Economic Indicators, U.S. Government, EconomyAlamy
The ugly fight in Washington that shut down the government and nearly failed to raise the debt limit took a serious toll on consumer confidence.

The Conference Board's monthly Consumer Confidence Index was released Tuesday, and it showed that people's confidence in the U.S. economy dipped sharply in October. In one month, the confidence index fell from 80.2 to 71.2, and the nonprofit that publishes the survey pointed the finger at the budget crisis.

"Consumer confidence deteriorated considerably as the federal government shutdown and debt-ceiling crisis took a particularly large toll on consumers' expectations," wrote Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. Franco went on to note that similar dips have been observed last year during the "fiscal cliff" debate and during the last government shutdown in the mid-1990s.

The Conference Board isn't alone in its assessment that the shutdown hurt consumer confidence: Last week's Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence survey found that confidence in the economy had reached its lowest ebb since December 2012.

Consumer confidence is a closely watched economic indicator, and the troublesome reports come just a month before the official kick-off of the holiday shopping season. And that could spell trouble for the retail industry and the economy as a whole.

"With the holiday shopping season around the corner, consumers have been shaken by all the political turmoil in Washington," wrote IHS Global Insights economist Chris Christopher in an email. "Looking ahead, we expect consumer confidence to gain traction in the upcoming months; however, confidence falls faster than it rises."

There is a potential silver lining for consumers, though -- as Christopher points out, retailers will be discounting heavily to convince shoppers to shake off their worries and get to the mall.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

Business intelligence firm IBISWorld projects about $7.5 billion in total spending on Halloween this year; the National Retail Federation is a bit more conservative, pegging Halloween spending at just under $7 billion. The NRF says that this means the average person celebrating the holiday will spend about $75 on decor, treats and costumes.

That's not nearly as much as you're going to spend on Christmas gifts, but it's still a chunk of change. So what can you do to dial things back a bit? Let's take things one at a time.

The Costume. Clearly, this is the big expense, accounting for $2.5 billion in spending, according to the NRF. (Included in that figure is $330 million spent on pet costumes, which we find delightful.)

As we explained earlier this week, the best way to save on your costume is to skip the costume store altogether. Go to a pop-up shop and you're likely looking at spending $40 to $50 on a costume in a bag; make one from scratch with items from your closet and the thrift store, and you can conceivably keep it under $15. Whether that works for you depends a lot on what you (and you children and pets) want to dress up as.

The top two most popular costumes are "witches" and "Batman" characters, with vampires coming in third. A witch costume can come together with an old black dress, some green face paint and a ratty old broom; a vampire is likewise easy to pull of with face paint and dark clothing. Batman (or another member of the Bat-Family) is going to be a bit more tricky; if you don't have the DIY skills to put together a convincing Batsuit, you might need to swallow your pride and hit the costume store for a proper cape and cowl.

The Candy. There are two big variables here: How much foot traffic you expect at your house, and how much you want to impress your trick-or-treaters. For the first consideration, you want to buy in bulk as much as possible without overdoing it; the last thing you want is to have to run to the drugstore at 8 p.m. because you're running low on candy. On the other hand, you don't want to overdo it and wind up with an excess of goodies destined to jump-start your winter over-consumption.

As for the latter concern, you can't go wrong with basics like Reese's and Snicker's; cheaping out and getting a giant bag of Tootsie Rolls isn't going to impress the neighborhood kids. As far as we're concerned, you might as well spend a few bucks extra to get the good stuff -- candy isn't expensive. (Besides, you know you're going to eat some of it yourself. Make it worth the calories.)

If you want to switch things up a bit on the candy front, you might consider hitting up your local Asian market and getting some of these strange foreign candies. They're a bit pricier, and you might risk confusing some of your young visitors with offerings like "Matsuya Soft Milk Candy," but hey, Halloween is supposed to be weird.

The Decorations. There's really only one decoration you absolutely need, and that's a decently carved Jack-o-Lantern. Last week, we looked at the dos and don'ts of buying a pumpkin, and found that you should be able to get a decent gourd from the supermarket for $10 or less. As for carving it, a jigsaw is ideal; if you don't have one, spending an extra $5 for a decent pumpkin-carving kit might be better than relying on kitchen knives.

As for other decorations, you might find some good DIY ideas on sites like Pinterest. Just be warned -- while it's cheaper than buying ready-made decorations, getting too enthusiastic about the homemade spiders and scarecrows could lead you to spend more on decorations than you normally would.

"We're projecting decoration expenditures to grow by 6.5%, and we attribute that to the continued prevalence of websites like Pinterest and home decoration blogs."

So if you can resist going totally overboard on making your house haunted, the total savings add up: All told, you're looking at around $10 for a pumpkin, $15 for a costume, and maybe another $10 to $15 for a decent-sized stash of candy to give out to trick-or-treaters. That's about half of what the average reveler is going to spend on Halloween this year.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

We are showing you how to eat, drink and be scary this Halloween season.
Read more on Halloween on AOL:

]]>DIY costumesfrugal halloweenhalloweenhalloween candyhalloween costumesHalloween decorationshalloween spendingHalloweenOnAOLholiday spendingjack-o-lanternpumpkinMatt BrownellFri, 25 Oct 2013 06:00:00 ESTBetter Costumes, Lower Costs: This Halloween, Hit the Thrift Shophttp://www.dailyfinance.com/on/thrift-store-halloween-costumes/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/thrift-store-halloween-costumes/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/thrift-store-halloween-costumes/#commentsFiled under: Shopping, Secret ShopperAlamy
Every October, hundreds of Halloween pop-up stores emerge in malls and empty storefronts across the country. Meanwhile, existing costume shops hire a ton of seasonal employees for the Halloween rush, and drugstores and other retailers dedicate an aisle or two to costumes and candy. At every one of these establishments, you'll find a variety of ready-made costumes in bags, not to mention fake weapons, mustaches, wigs and other accessories.

But when it comes time to choose your costume, we'd urge you to skip the Halloween store and head for the thrift shop.

"No costume-in-a-bag has ever won a costume contest," scoffs Melissa Massello, founder of DIY and frugal living site Shoestring Magazine. "If you go the DIY route, you're much more likely to get the cash prize or gift certificate."

Even if you don't care about winning costume contests, there's another good argument for skipping the costume shop: It's a lot cheaper to put your costume from scratch than to buy it ready-made.

Consider one staple costume: The old-timey gangster. This one usually consists of a large-fitting, pinstriped suit, some manner of fedora or other brimmed hat, and perhaps a fake tommy gun. Throw in a wide tie with a thick knot, and perhaps a cigar, and you're all set.

I visited a large costume shop here in New York, and found a whole section dedicated to the gangster look. Its offerings were pricey: One costume cost $60, and another came in at $70. The bag contained only the suit -- no tie, tommy gun or hat was included.

Then I headed over to the Salvation Army thrift store, which happened to be next door. There were plenty of ill-fitting suits on the rack, and I found a nice pinstriped one for just $24. But that's not all: Most of the store is 50 percent off on Wednesday, so the actual price was just $12. And unlike the polyester "suits" from the costume shop, these were real garments, meant to last, albeit used ones that probably needed a good dry-cleaning. If I'd decided I liked the look of the suit, I could've even had it tailored after Halloween and entered it into regular rotation in my wardrobe. The mass-produced "gangster" costume, by contrast, looked unlikely to hold up to multiple wearings.

That's just one example. Another would be the classic Super Mario costume, which consists of a pair of blue overalls, a red shirt and a red hat. At a costume shop, you're looking at paying about $40 for this costume. (That's also what you pay for a "Pete the Plumber" costume, a shameless ripoff of Nintendo's beloved character.) But again, there's no need to buy a costume in a bag when it can be assembled from clothes found at any thrift store -- how much would it really cost to buy a pair of overalls and a red shirt at your local Goodwill?

If you do decide to go the thrift store route, there are a few things to keep in mind going in.

Things are about to get very busy. "October is like Black Friday for thrift stores," says Massello, who has a tradition of making her costumes from scratch. "At this point, a week away, they're starting to get picked over." Get there before the weekend rush if you can, but keep in mind that you might need to hit multiple stores in the area to put together your full costume.

Plan ahead, but be willing to improvise. Massello recommends doing Google Image searches of your costume beforehand and putting together an itemized list of what you need at the store (and what you can provide from your own closet).

But if you still haven't decided on a costume, or you're not sure that you'll find every element you need, your best bet might be to go in with a few costumes in mind and hope that inspiration strikes while you're browsing the buck-a-pound box.

Remember to clean what you get. There's one advantage that a costume in a bag has over a thrift-store creation: It doesn't need to be cleaned first. Make sure you leave enough time to clean your purchase. "You need to assume that nothing has been washed at a thrift store," Massello says. "If you're buying the day before, don't buy something that has to be dry-cleaned."

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

We are showing you how to eat, drink and be scary this Halloween season.
Read more on Halloween on AOL:

]]>diy halloween costumeshalloweenhalloween costumesHalloweenOnAOLsave money on clothessecondhand storesThrift Shopsthrift storeMatt BrownellThu, 24 Oct 2013 06:00:00 ESTToday's College Grads Won't Be Able to Retire Until They're 73http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/college-grads-delayed-retirement-student-loan-debt/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/college-grads-delayed-retirement-student-loan-debt/http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/college-grads-delayed-retirement-student-loan-debt/#commentsFiled under: Retirement, Student Loans, Debt, 401KAlamy
Sorry, recent college grads: That mountain of student loan debt you have to scale is going to delay your retirement by more than a decade.

That's the conclusion of an analysis by personal finance site NerdWallet, which looked at the dismal financial state of today's average college graduate. With a median debt load of $23,300, a 10-year repayment plan and an unemployment rate of 18 percent upon graduation, new grads aren't exactly set up to start socking away retirement funds. It all translates to about $115,000 less in your retirement fund by the time you hit the typical retirement age.

So how does $23,000 in college debt now wind up costing you $115,000 later?

It's partly a matter of interest on the loan, which winds up costing the typical grad an additional $5,000 or so by the time the debt is repaid. But the real issue is opportunity cost.

"[A]lthough the median college graduate leaves with a seemingly manageable $23,300 debt load, 7% of a student's earnings go toward yearly loan payments of $2,858 for the first ten years of his or her career," writes NerdWallet analyst Joseph Egoian. "This prevents any meaningful contributions toward retirement."

Now, if that $28,580 being doled out in loan payments instead sat in a plain-vanilla retirement account averaging a 5 percent annual return for 33 years, it would become more than $143,000.

But it won't, and as a result, the typical debt-laden college graduate won't be well-situated to retire until he or she is 73 -- a good 12 years later than the current average retirement age. Even with a projected life expectancy of 84, that's still only a decade of retirement to enjoy.

Later retirements are somewhat inevitable, even in the absence of exploding student loan debt -- as medical science extends our lifespans, you'll have to work longer simple give yourself a shot at not outliving your money. That's why it's more important than ever to contribute as much as possible to your retirement accounts and take full advantage of any employer matching you can get on your 401(k).